Unbreakable If Hotaru Says So
by OrangeAce
Summary: Due to Hotaru's latest invention, Mikan and Natsume are stuck together. Yes. Unbreakable... if Hotaru says so. The only antidote is if they learn to stop fighting with each other... and abide by Hotaru's wishes. — NatsumeMikan
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Alice Academy and its characters._

_Summary: Thanks to Hotaru's latest invention, Mikan and Natsume are stuck with each other, their connection unbreakable. Well, if Hotaru says so. Hotaru promises that she would unbind the two with the antidote if only they quit fighting… and if they follow what Hotaru wishes._

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

**Unbreakable… If Hotaru Says So**

Chapter 1: Fights that Lead to Insanity

It was a normal, sunny day in the prestigious Gakuen Alice where everything was perfectly normal. Teachers popping in and out of nowhere, flying students entering in and out of their classrooms, a girl screaming her lungs out because she was called ugly, a cat-dog girl continuously trying to get a raven-haired boy's attention, and definitely more endeavors signifying that the day was indeed normal. Oh, and by the way, did I forget to mention a certain blonde chasing a girl genius?

"Hotaru!!! Give back that photo!!!"

Hotaru faced the running Ruka as she maneuvered her scooter expertly and stuck her tongue out on him. The animal-lover could feel his blood pressure go up. Ruka had had enough! And he swore that by the end of the day, he would be bringing the girl down.

_Kring Kring_

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"HOOTTAARRUU!!!"

Imai Hotaru was currently working on another of her inventions when the cue for her dangerous and still in-progress inventions to be kept emerged. Sakura Mikan had already entered her laboratory's premises and so to keep everything in tack and out of trouble, this action was highly appropriate. The door burst open.

"Hotaru!" Mikan, the auburn-pigtailed girl greeted her best friend energetically. Hotaru stared back at the loud-mouthed girl and waited for her to say whatever her intentions were for coming.

"What is it? I'm busy…" Hotaru muttered impassively.

Mikan smiled. "Nya. Are you sure you're busy? Then why don't I see anything on your desk?!" She looked at her best friend questioningly.

"I kept it when you came as to prevent any trouble…"

"Hey! What was that supposed to mean?"

Hotaru sighed at the denseness of the girl right in front of her. "What do you want?" She asked once more, wanting to get Mikan's visit in her lab over with.

Mikan blushed then started playing with her two pointer fingers as she made each touch the other. "Ano… can I borrow one of your 'idiot guns'?" She asked meekly, for once not baffling the entire world with her voice.

Hotaru stared at the blushing form of her best friend for several moments. "No" Came her simple reply. "If that's your only concern then I highly advise that you step out now before I let one of my robots drag you out" She stated coldly.

"AWW!!! Hotaru! I really need it!!!" Mikan whined as she quickly kneeled in front of her friend, pleading. Hotaru just stared back at her. The loud-mouthed girl put on her best puppy-dog eyes, trying to at least swerve Hotaru's adamant decision.

"No"

"Aww!!! Come on! Come on! I can't take that idiot Natsume's actions anymore!" Mikan burst out, sounding really desperate. "He had definitely pushed me over the edge this time and I would like to get back on him!"

"No"

"HOTARU!"

"No"

"Why not?"

"You're already too much trouble. What more if you had an 'idiot gun' in your hands? More trouble"

"Aww!!!" Mikan whined once more. "Aww! Aww! Aww!"

Hotaru grabbed her panda earmuffs from the nearby drawer and wore it. Mikan continued to whine non-stop, acting more immature than she already was. To make things worse, the girl started stomping her foot on the lab floor. Hotaru suddenly grew frantic. All her hidden inventions were under that floor, preventing Mikan from destroying it; when here she was right now, stomping her foot on the floor, causing the hidden objects to break in a few minutes. Hotaru grabbed her 'idiot gun' and aimed it at the ranting girl.

_BOINK_

"Ouch!" Mikan rubbed the top of her head soothingly. Before the girl could start stomping her foot again, Hotaru had already taken action, throwing the 'idiot gun' itself on the girl. "Ouch!" Mikan cried once more. Then, when she realized that Hotaru had thrown the gun, she smiled warmly. "Arigatou!!!"

Hotaru suddenly opened a long piece of parchment, and shoved it on Mikan's face. "This is the contract of renting once of my equipments…" She muttered and held out a pencil for Mikan to use in signing. The contract was so long that it rolled through-out the room.

"Oh! All I need to do is sign?" Mikan piped happily.

"Yes… but you also have to pay a fee of 5 rabbits"

Mikan rummaged inside her pocket and handed out five rabbits to the girl genius. "Here you go!" She said, after which she searched for the end of the parchment wherein she had to sign.

Hotaru immediately rolled the parchment as soon as Mikan allotted her signature. "You may leave"

Mikan grinned at her friend as she headed her way out the lab. "Arigatou! Arigatou! Don't worry, I'll take care of-" Before she could finish her sentence, the door was shut closed at her face. Then fallen bricks out of nowhere piled on top of each other, blocked the closed door, and finally steel bars burst forth, barricading Hotaru's lab completely. Mikan screamed when suddenly a robot head came floating down on her saying, 'Shoo shoo shoo' The girl needn't be told twice. Mikan screamed and ran out of the technology building as fast as lightning. Now all she needed to do was find Natsume for their awaited battle.

"Mikan no baka" Hotaru muttered under her breath as she continued working on her invention#87. Didn't Mikan figure out that the 'idiot gun' was nothing compared to Natsume's ability? Hotaru sighed as she told herself that she couldn't care less for she only gave the gun to drive the girl out. Sometimes, the girl always got into her nerves! If only she could find a solution to stop her ranting about 'Natsume this, Natsume that', Hotaru would be having the time of her life making her inventions serenely and undisturbed. Her best friend always tried to squish her in their (as in Mikan and Nastume) love quarrel. Why don't they just admit their feelings for each other? Mikan was truly an idiot.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"Natsume… where are you?" Mikan mumbled as she searched everywhere for the boy. 'It's payback time' She thought evilly. Early that morning, Natsume had insulted her being a loud-mouthed pig, ugly, flat-chested, a compete idiot, a girl with nothing special, super dense, annoying, shallow, and the list could go on! Suddenly, a panting and harassed-looking blonde classmate appeared right before her. They had eye contact.

"Ruka-pyon/Mikan!"

They both chuckled as they said their names at the same time. "Ano… are you alright?" Mikan asked concerned as she scrutinized how Ruka looked like at the moment. The boy's hair was a mess, his uniform was slightly torn and burnt, plus he had gashes and bruises on him.

Ruka nodded. 'This is nothing…" He smiled. Then the memory of his attempt to enter Hotaru's laboratory just a while ago, came flooding inside him once again. He shivered at the thought.

"Ruka-pyon" Mikan called, causing the boy to snap back to reality. "Have you seen Natsume?" She asked expectantly.

Ruka turned rather gloomy at the question. "N-Natsume?" The girl nodded. "I think he's by the Sakura tree reading manga… again. Or maybe sleeping" He answered.

Mikan thanked him gratefully. "Arigatou! Arigatou!" Then she headed off to where Natsume was. Ruka watched the girl's running figure until she was out of sight. Then something had caught his attention. In the sky, a large air balloon floated freely; then a picture of a familiar face appeared as tarpaulin, dangling for everyone to see. His fury aroused inside him once more.

"Hotaru!"

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"Natsume! I finally found you!" Mikan exclaimed as she approached the lying figure of the boy by the Sakura tree. Natsume showed no signs of movement, his face still covered by the manga he was previously reading. Mikan shook with fury as the boy continued to ignore her. "Stop pretending to sleep!" She fumed, hot steam coming out of her ears. Nope. Still no movement. "Get up! Get up! I'm challenging you to a battle"

Now that had caught the boy's attention. Natsume grabbed the manga out of his face and looked at the girl in front of him bored. Mikan smirked. She knew that Natsume wouldn't have sat up of he weren't interested with what she was blabbering about. "Did I just hear it correctly? Or are you out of your mind?" He told the girl in an annoyed tone.

"You heard it right! I'm challenging you to a battle!" Mikan said courageously. With all the shouting the girl was emitting, she was starting to capture attention from other students. In a matter of few minutes, they were surrounded.

"Battle?" Natsume smirked then immediately stood up.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Mikan suddenly felt her knees go weak as she got a glimpse of Natsume's blazing eyes. "-gulp- I-I'm g-going to b-bring you down!" Mikan shouted, pursuing more of Natsume's ominous aura to emerge. "W-With this!" She held the 'idiot gun' up for everyone to see.

Natsume just stared back at her. "And I thought it would be an interesting battle… what a complete waste of time" He muttered and planned to exit the scene. Students immediately dispersed when Natsume had neared while intending to head out.

Mikan shook with fury once more. "How dare you walk out in a battle!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Natsume ignored her continuous shouting. Feeling humiliated for asking for a battle, but rejected, Mikan ran after the boy and blocked him. "I said, I want a battle!" Mikan raged with so much spite.

"Shut up idiot" He said and pushed the girl aside.

Mikan, really determined for a battle, blocked him once more. "Come on! It's not as easy as you think you know… If you may have forgotten, I have the Nullification Alice!"

Natsume sighed as he grew more and more impatient of the girl. "I will allow you to use that junk on me" He started. "But if I prevent whatever that comes out from hitting me, you leave me alone" Natsume stated.

Mikan nodded her head vigorously, a bit excited, for she had something in store for this battle. "But if I manage to hit you, you promise to stop insulting me once and for all! Okay?"

"Whatever" The boy replied nonchalantly.

"Okay, get ready!" Mikan shouted as she aimed for the boy's shin.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"Idiotic ant. Don't stay there, or else you'd be stuck on this rock" Hotaru poured some cold liquid on a tree and a hollow block she brought down from her lab. She was suddenly interrupted from what she was doing by a hysterical voice. Why couldn't she at least get a day-off with all Mikan's shouting?

"HOOTTAARRUU!!!"

Hotaru sighed as Mikan's loud scream pierced her ears. She prepared the panda earmuffs. In a couple of moments, her best friend appeared before her, raging furious. "FINALLY! I FOUND YOU!!!" Mikan made her way to her so-called 'best friend's location.

Hotaru was surrounded by bushes at that time because she was conducting an experiment on her latest invention. The soft-spoken girl just stared back at the raging girl blankly.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT YOU DID TO ME!"

The girl inventor sighed. "It's your fault. You didn't read the contract. It's in guideline#46: boinky canon balls are rented separately" Hotaru stated calmly.

Mikan was shaking, trying her best to suppress any outbursts she was about to make. After several moments of struggling, "I WAS SO EMBARRASSED FOR BEING SO PROUD IN CHALLENGING NATSUME BACK THERE WHEN IN THE END I FOUND OUT I HAD NO CHANCE IN THE FIRST PLACE _JUST_ BECAUSE THE 'IDIOT GUN' CONTAINED _NO _BOINKY CANON BALLS!!!" Mikan breathed heavily after she said the statement in one breath.

Just as Hotaru was about to reply to her friend's outburst, a random middle school girl appeared out of nowhere. "Imai-chan! Do you have the picture of Ruka-kun like I have requested?" She asked expectantly.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

Natsume smirked to himself as he remembered Mikan embarrass herself by trying to aim for his shin with the 'idiot gun', but failed miserably. "What a total idiot…" He muttered, referring to the girl. As he continued to stride by the school grounds going nowhere in particular, he got a glimpse of a familiar boy's figure hiding by the bushes. It was Ruka. "Why are you hiding behind a bush with a pair of binoculars?"

"Uhm, nothing!" Ruka turned around to face the boy and replied immediately while shoving the tiny binoculars in his pocket.

The raven-haired boy scrutinized his best friend's gesture. "Are you checking someone out?"

Ruka chuckled. "No. No… I'm just, well… nevermind" He smiled at Natsume and started petting his rabbit again. "Gomen if I wasn't able to join you the whole day"

Natsume nodded his head, acknowledging his friend's apology. "Let's go" He said to Ruka.

But before the boy followed suit, Ruka grabbed his binoculars and looked through it once more. It was at that moment, that something made him gasp and caused him to run towards the area where something spiteful was about to be handed out.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

Hotaru was about to hand over the pictures when a hand suddenly grabbed it away from her. Ruka had dived into the area, hugging the pictures to himself as soon as he grabbed hold of it. Natsume appeared several moments after the grabbing of photos.

"Ruka-kun! Ah! You're so kawaii!!!" The middle school girl giggled. Then she turned to Hotaru. "Seeing my dear little prince is enough. I don't need your pictures anymore. Thanks though!" The girl waved goodbye and headed off.

Ruka sighed in relief, but Hotaru suddenly took the relief out of him by giving him a dark look. Ruka grew frantic for it was the first time he saw Hotaru like that. "You… You… You took away my customer" She muttered venomously.

"Hey hey… chill Hotaru…" Mikan patted her best friend's shoulder, trying to ease her mood. She disregarded the 'idiot gun' issue at the moment. Natsume watched everything bored.

Then Hotaru's frown turned into a tiny smile. "But I still have hundreds of pictures for hundreds of my customers anyway…" She replied with an evil tone and showed a handful of pictures to the blonde who instantaneously cowered in fury.

"Give me those photos!" He shouted and started running after Hotaru who had currently hopped on her flying duck and circled the area. So the chase was actually in circles.

Mikan and Natsume, who were left by the two for their own world, looked at each other. Mikan suddenly grew with anger as she realized that the person she was staring at the moment was her insulter. "YOU!" She cried, pointing at the boy with so much emphasis. It was obvious she was about to throw another fit.

"Don't you dare point your filthy finger on me"

Mikan gasped. "F-FILTHY?!" She started stomping her foot and shouting lots and lots of insults to Natsume. "MY FINGERS ARE NOT FILTHY YOU EVIL, SELF-CONCEITED, PERVERTISH, SNOBBISH…" And the list could go and on.

"Look who's talking you loud-mouthed, idiotic, dense…" And the list could go on too.

Hotaru and Ruka had long done finished their chase as they diverted their full attention on the two bickering, in denial lovebirds. At this moment, Mikan had already lunged over Natsume. "Should we stop them?" Ruka suddenly asked.

Hotaru shook her head, and so the two continued to watch the other pair fight when something else had caught Hotaru and Ruka's attention. Mikan was about to roll over Hotaru's invention. The girl genius' eyes widened. She was about to save her invention which would be crushed by Mikan and Natsume's fight, when it was too late.

::_KASPLACH_::

"N-NANI?!" Mikan cried as she tried to get her hand away from Natsume's. "EWW! WHAT IS THIS GOO?!"

"What the heck is this?!" Natsume growled as he tugged his hand away from Mikan's, but to no avail, only pulled the girl towards his direction. The cold liquid that had spilled over their hands hardened, thus, connecting the two with each other.

"Oh dear…" Ruka mumbled.

"HOOTTAARRUU!!!" Mikan ran towards her best friend, pulling Natsume along with her. The fire-aliced shot the girl a glare of daggers. "GET THIS THING OFF!!!"

Hotaru was silent for a moment. She didn't have an antidote for this invention yet… But she could always make one. Then, suddenly, an evil thought entered her mind. She plastered a **tiny **smile on her face. "I don't have an antidote for this…"

"WHAT?!" Both Mikan and Natsume screamed. The two had a struggle of pulling each other, trying their best to get the other's hand from their own. Growing desperate, Natsume tried burning off the goo with his blazing fire.

"OW! OW! OW! DON'T USE FIRE YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

"… yet…" Hotaru ended in a small voice. But the two fighting kids still heard it.

Mikan jumped up and down happily. "Then what are you waiting for? Make one!!!"

An evil glint appeared in Hotaru's eyes. "I will only make one on a condition…" She stated calmly.

"What? Would you like some money? I can give you as much as you want, just as long as you unbind me from this ugly… hag"

"U-UGLY HAG?!"

"No" Came Hotaru's reply, even if for a moment, she wanted to accept Natsume's offer when she heard the word "money" and "give you as much as you want".

"Then what do you want?" Mikan asked her best friend curiously, cooling down a bit. Natsume and Ruka joined Mikan in their expectant wait of Hotaru's answer.

Hotaru smiled widely this time. "You have to stop fighting with each other… and abide by all my wishes"

_To be continued…_

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

_From the author: Hahaha! I hope you guys liked the start of this story. Please tell me if it has potential. :p Drop by a review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Alice Academy and its characters._

_OrangeAce: Thanks to the last chapter reviewers and to those who have added my ficcie in their faves even if the thrill had only started ::hands those readers some cookies:: Anywho! Here's the second installment for this story of mine! Hope you guys enjoy! Read on!_

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

**Unbreakable… If Hotaru Says So**

Chapter 2: The Start of the Chaotic Saga of the Baka Slave "Friends"

-Wish#1

"S-Stop fighting with each other and abide by your wishes?" Ruka uttered, as he was the first to react from Hotaru's statement.

"H-H-H-OOOTTAAUURRU!!!"" Mikan shouted hysterically while throwing back numerous statements like, 'I thought you were my best friend', 'Why are you doing this to me?', 'Why do you like seeing me suffer?', and so on and so forth while rocking her body back and fort.

"Shut your mouth, baka" Natsume snapped at the hysterical girl beside him.

"HOTARU!!!" Mikan continuously wailed… then in a matter of few seconds, her wails turned into shouts of fury. "HOOTTAARRUU!!!" She said growling, approaching the girl menacingly. But Natsume stayed standing firm on the ground, thus, hindering Mikan to actually try hitting Hotaru. The boy glared at Mikan's childishness with annoyance after which he turned to the silent girl genius.

"What do you mean by abide by your wishes?" Natsume asked calmly, realizing that nothing would be done if they panicked. Since as Hotaru says, the only way they could separate from each other is if they abide by the girl's condition.

"It's good that you know I'm the only one who could unbind the both of you-" Hotaru started, but Mikan interfered.

"Ah wait! Why not let's go to Narumi-sensei!!!" She suggested happily as soon as she actually came across the idea.

"Good idea, maybe he has something that can help you" Ruka stated, trying to at least contribute something… opinions were always welcome.

"Idiots. I told you I'm the only one who could fix this" Hotaru said impassively.

"Well, we wouldn't know if we tried right?! And if ever Narumi-sensei **has **an antidote for this thing, it's better to approach him than abide by your wishes which would be 'who-knows-what'?!" Mikan explained, looking at her so-called 'best friend' spitefully.

Natsume glared daggers at the girl for actually suggesting such. "Whatever you say, I won't ask help from that pervert…"

"What? Why?!" Mikan asked.

Natsume remained silent, but his eyes said everything. 'I do not want anything to do with that pervert, even if you, hag, get stuck with me'

Mikan boiled with fury and annoyance. "Y-You! Are you okay?!" Mikan spontaneously touched Natsume's forehead to see if he was ill. But the boy immediately shoved her hand away.

"What?!" Natsume snarled.

"You'd rather be stuck with me than ask help from Narumi-sensei!!!" Mikan said exasperated and a lot surprised.

Natsume showed taints of pink for a moment, but it suddenly disappeared because of his reply. "You're implying nonsense stuff you idiot. I didn't even say anything…" He said blandly.

Mikan sighed in defeat. "Fine! Fine! You deny! You don't want Narumi-sensei to help!" She turned to Hotaru at this point. "What do you like us to do then, huh?!?!?!"

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"This is stupid… This is definitely VERY stupid" Natsume growled under his breath as he tried the best he could do hide his face from the already crowding students; Mikan and he were dragged along by Hotaru in another of her "unbreakable" inventions. The girl genius was holding two chains that held both Mikan and he like captives. He heaved a very long and tired sigh. This wasn't his day; DEFINITELY not his day.

Mikan, on the other hand, was looking gloomier than ever, crying over the fact that her friend had "betrayed" her. She skulked like a weeping baby who recently lost her lollipop.

Natsume glared at the girl beside her as she trailed behind him, thus delaying their time, lingering around with the murmuring crowd.

"Hey, isn't that Natsume over there?"

"Yah… But I wonder what he is doing with that no-star"

"No, I think the question should be, 'What is he doing with that no-star while being dragged around in a chain by Imai-chan?'"

Ruka looked at both Natsume and Mikan concerned and worried. Then, he shifted his gaze on the ice queen who was leading both of his suffering friends with a chain… like pets.

Hotaru prodded along, ignoring the attention they were getting at the moment, with his newly found baka slave "friends"… as she had recently labeled them.

Flashback

"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!" Both Mikan and Natsume shouted incredulously, surprised and shocked after Hotaru had just stated her first wish. Ruka looked at his two suffering friends pitifully, but he kept his mouth shut. He didn't want to be affected by the two's already boiling bad mood.

Hotaru had a smirk on, and an evil glint in her usually cold eyes. "Wish#1: Be my baka slave "friends" for as long as I like while I drag you both along with…" She brought out something from her nearby backpack; it was two chains, "… this"

"This is not happening to me…" Natsume told himself pitifully. He shot the girl beside him with ice daggers as Mikan continuously cried and shouted her head off.

"HOOTTAARRUU!!! H-HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME?!?!?!" Mikan had puppy dog eyes on as her eyes started to well up with tears. But Hotaru only stared back blankly. After a few moments, Mikan had once again, tried to lunge forward at her friend in fury, but Natsume had prevented her from doing so once more. She tried to pry free from the boy's stubborn firm stand on the ground, as she did her best, putting her full strength to move the boy, thus being able to lunge at Hotaru too. But to no avail, her efforts were all useless.

"Che. How disgraceful. You're idiotic antics will do nothing." Natsume angrily said as he tried to compose himself from all what was recently happening. He couldn't take anymore of this! "I'm leaving…" He said and skidded his way away from Hotaru and Ruka… bringing Mikan along too, which of course, slipped his mind at the moment, from all the fury and annoyance surging inside him like hot fire. He passed by a row of bushes, causing Mikan to crash to these obstacles, leaves and bruises appearing all over her.

"STOP IT! YOU'RE HURTING ME!" Mikan shouted loudly, reminding Natsume of her presence. The boy stopped in his tracks, then turned around to look at the harrased-looking girl with him. The two's eyes met, and silence enveloped them. After several moments, Natsume had broken away from the eye contact; then Ruka and Hotaru made their appearance.

"You do know that running away from this solves nothing…" Hotaru stated calmly as she showed the chains to the two. Ruka gave both Mikan and Natsume concerned looks. As much as he wanted to help… he really had no help to offer. The least he could do was be at the back of his friends (figuratively of course), and make sure that Mikan and Natsume don't kill each other before this was all over.

Mikan looked at Hotaru with a very sad look… But the girl genius was unmoved. "Fine" Mikan said in surrender. Hotaru approached Mikan and wrapped the chain around the other girl's neck. After finally obtaining "possession" over Mikan, Hotaru turned to Natsume next, giving him the 'It's your turn, you have no choice' look.

But Natsume was stubborn because he remained rooted to where he was, having no intentions of being under the soft-spoken and somehow sadistic girl. When several minutes passed and Natsume remained unmoving, Hotaru was the one who approached the boy.

Unfortunately, Natsume was so stubborn that he would try to avoid every attempt of Hotaru to cling the chain on him. Just when Hotaru's patience was wearing thin, she had finally revealed her secret weapon and aimed it at Natsume.

_BOINK_

Natsume was just too quick. He had scarcely survived the hit, but he still managed to go unscathed. He stumbled on the ground, falling on his back. Mikan was dragged along too.

_THUD_

"OW!" Mikan whined her delayed reaction after she had recovered from the fall. She rubbed the side of her face soothingly.

"Hm. Seems like you're not much of an idiot to be hit by my 'baka gun'…" Hotaru said with slight amusement in her voice; her face was still impassive though. Hotaru was about to hit Natsume again, this time, one hundred percent sure that it will hit him squarely on the face, when the boy had had enough and decided to make his move.

Mikan gasped in shock.

Natsume was about to throw a blaze of fire at Hotaru when Mikan lunged at the boy, preventing him from doing any damaged to her "best friend". "Don't you dare plan to do something like that to Hotaru!" Mikan said venomously, her piercing gaze staring back at the boy's same furious ones.

"Get off me!"

"NO!"

"GET OFF!"

"NO!"

"I said… get off…" Natsume hissed dangerously. Mikan knew better than to provoke a very mad Natsume, so she got off the boy and sat beside him behaved... but her piercing eyes were still transfixed on the boy.

Ruka sighed in relief as he grew worried with what his friend might do. There had to be something done with this nonsense. He shifted his gaze on Hotaru who seemed to watch everything bored. 'She seems adamant with all of this' Ruka told himself. Then… there was only one way to help his friend. He approached the other boy who was still trying his best to suppress any outburst. "Natsume…" Ruka held out his hand to help his friend who was still on the ground.

The raven-haired boy stared back at his friend whose eyes were filled with worry and concern. Sensing that his friend had only wanted to help, Natsume had accepted the boy's hand… and it was then, he had handed it to Hotaru who had immediately took action in capturing it with the chain. "Ruka!"

"Gomen… this is for your own good…" The blonde managed to say after feeling really guilty for somehow betraying his friend.

"Get up you two. I still have some things to do." Hotaru stated.

"WE'RE NOT YOUR SLAVES!" Both Mikan and Natsume said at the same time.

_BOINK_

_BOINK_

Natsume just sent Hotaru a deadly glare after being hit square on the face, as Mikan just rubbed the sore part of her face soothingly. "But it seems like you both are helpless against me…"

Natsume tried breaking the chains with his flames... but it was no use. It was another of the girl's unbreakable inventions. Realizing he couldn't do anything, the boy tried aiming his fire towards the girl inventor once more when Hotaru had broken his intenton.

"Try frying me and I wouldn't be able to make any antidote for you…" Hotaru smiled smugly.

Natsume lowered his hand and cursed under his breath.

"Let's go…" Hotaru had started dragging the two with the chains. Mikan made her first few steps after which she had burst into another of her monologues like, 'What kind of friend does this to another friend?', 'Stupid Hotaru… I didn't come all the way here to be treated like this', and 'My friend had betrayed me…' She had begun to skulk all by herself, trailing behind the other two.

"Make it faster my baka slave 'friends'…" Hotaru demanded as she tugged on the two once more.

End of Flashback

Suddenly, Hotaru stopped in her tracks in the middle of the crowd. Natsume and Mikan had halted too, expecting the girl to finally say her first demand. The murmurs and whispers that had been bothersome all through-out diminished when the three had ceased their movements. After a long awkward silence… "I want ice cream"

Everyone, except Natsume, comically fell on the floor. "You stopped just to say something as simple as that?!" Mikan was shaking her head, trying to keep her remaining sanity.

"Yes" Hotaru answered shortly.

Natsume remained impassive, acting as if he had not heard Hotaru's request. He was not a slave. Slaves are only those who were weak… and in his eyes, he was definitely not weak. So he remained still, seemingly not caring with what was happening. The girl bound to him was the one who made gestures with their "captor's" stupid request.

Mikan had held out her hand, as if expecting something to be handed to her. Hotaru stared back blankly, not quite knowing what Mikan meant with her outstretched hand. Mikan rolled her eyes when Hotaru failed to understand. "I will buy, give me the money!"

Hotaru hit Mikan with her 'idiot gun'.

_BOINK_

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Mikan rubbed her head from the soreness once more.

"Baka, why would I give you MY money?" Hotaru had released hold of the chain, linking her from the other two, but while doing so, putting some stickers on both Mikan and Natsume, serving as a tracker on their whereabouts.

"WHAT'S THIS?!" Natsume and Mikan cried at the same time. 

_BOINK_

"Fine! Natsume let's go!" Catching Natsume off guard, Mikan actually got to drag the boy along with her, thus doing their first errand of the day.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

_Errand#1:_

"Hotaru! Here's your ice cream! I made it extra large!" Mikan bounced off happily as she presented the ice cream cone to her waiting friend. 

"Tsk… Yeah. With my money" Natsume muttered under his breath annoyed.

"That's not my ice cream" Hotaru looked back at the two blankly.

"NANI?!" Mikan and Natsume cried at the same time.

"That's chocolate. I only eat vanilla"

"But you didn't indicate any flavor!" Natsume reasoned-out highly annoyed for being ordered around by a… girl!

_BOINK_

Mikan chuckled from Natsume's recent hit.

"You're both incompetent."

"BOTH?!" Mikan shouted shocked. 

_BOINK_

"Yah. Both… Go back and get vanilla"

Mikan and Natsume made their way back to the ice cream stand, swearing and mumbling under their breath. Curse this day! After a LONG wait…

"What you took so long?" Hotaru snapped impatiently.

"Here Hotaru! Vanilla flavored just for you!" Mikan handed the vanilla treat towards her friend almost happily. Finally! They were about to be done with their first errand.

"That's still not it" Hotaru stated, thus breaking Mikan's hopeful desire.

"What do you mean by that's still not it! I spent thirty rabbits for that friggin' ice cream! The idiotic ugly hag here with me had to drop the last five ones! This is vanilla isn't it?! Dammit!" Natsume exclaimed angrily, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Hey! Don't curse in front of Hotaru!" Mikan cried, trying to still defend her best friend… Then only realized the other parts of Natsume's sentences. "AND I'M NOT AN IDIOTIC UGLY HAG!"

"There's no chocolate sprinkles" Hotaru stated impassively.

"WHAT?! BUT HOTARU! YOU DIDN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING!" Mikan suddenly shifted her attention to her "best friend" surprised. 

_BOINK_

"I want sprinkles…" Hotaru said after which dismissing her baka slave "friends".

_BOINK _

_BOINK_

"And make sure you get the right one this time…"

Ruka sighed as he watched everything from the sidelines. Will the two ever get out of this dreadful nightmare?

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

_Errand#2:_

"Stop dragging my hand…" Natsume said icily to the girl beside him who was dressed up in a maid's uniform with her cleaning equipment. Hotaru had forced the two, no actually more of him, to clean her room: their second errand of the day. Mikan had happily accepted this errand, and as soon as they entered the girl genius's room, she started cleaning up.

Natsume had refused to do anything for Hotaru this time, thus leaving only Mikan to do the work. The girl was okay with it, but she set out a deal that if he could choose not to help in cleaning, just as long as he pretended he wasn't there. The boy gladly accepted this deal. He watched the girl silently as she dusted the dirt out of the furniture, made the bed and etc, happily. He was a bit annoyed because, once again, the girl was smiling despite the fact that she was being ordered around a lot.

"How can I not drag your hand you jerk! I'm holding the broom and the dust pan ain't I? If only you help in cleaning, then probably I don't have to drag your hand!" Mikan snapped back to Natsume.

"…" Natsume didn't utter any word, but just stared at the girl blankly. The two had a staring marathon for a couple of moments, but Mikan easily withdrew sensing that they were wasting time.

"Stop it! I want this over with okay?!" Mikan stated truthfully.

"Who doesn't…? Who would like to get stuck with an ugly hag like you…?" Natsume replied, definitely trying to push Mikan over the edge once more. His day would never be complete without their usual bickering.

"FOR THE LAST TIME! I'M _NOT_ AN UGLY HAG!" Mikan shouted loudly.

Suddenly, Hotaru's bedroom door flung open, revealing the owner of the room herself. "Are you done cleaning?" She asked impassively.

"Ah! Hotaru! Natsume doesn't want to help-" Mikan was cut mid-sentence.

_BOINK_

"What in the world was that for?!" The auburn-haired girl exclaimed, rubbing the sore part of her head once more.

"Stop your blabbering and continue working"

Natsume smirked to himself as he looked at the skulking girl beside him once more. Just as he shifted his gaze to Hotaru, he too, was a victim of the 'idiot gun'.

_BOINK_

"You too. Start working" Hotaru was about to exit her room once more, but before doing so, added a few reminders. "And please try your best to stop fighting with each other. I'm busy and I don't want to be disturbed… If I hear the slightest noise, I will send off my flying robot head all the way here…"

Mikan gulped at this. Natsume stared at her, not quite knowing what was so scary about this robot head. But Mikan just sent him a 'you don't want to know' look.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"Narumi… do you think it would be alright to leave them like this?"

The blonde teacher grinned widely. "Of course it would be alright… Imai-chan's intentions seem to be purely essential. We could always do a day without the both of them trying to take their head off if they learned their lesson…" Narumi started. "But for the meantime, let's have some entertainment"

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"Hello Mikan-chan!!!" Narumi greeted his student cheerfully.

Natsume and Mikan had finished the rest of the errands for the day, thus it was time for them to rest. They were waiting for the sent teacher who would be dealing with the student's latest predicament. It was Narumi who was sent.

"Narumi-sensei!!!" Mikan intended to run towards the teacher and give him a hug, when Natsume had prevented her to do so once again. Mikan fell, face to the floor, when she made the slightest movements to approach the blonde teacher. Natsume continuously gave the teacher a cold shoulder.

"Wow… It seems like the bond was stronger than I imagined…" Narumi's tone turned seriously as he checked out the goo linking both Mikan and Natsume together. After a silence with serious faces… "Way to go Imai-chan!!!" Narumi exclaimed causing Mikan to comically fall on the floor.

Natsume grunted under his breath in annoyance. "How in the world could this be a good thing?"

"Why, of course, because of the two of you, Hotaru's invention had been proven to work perfectly!"

"And that's what you care about at the moment?!" Natsume growled in annoyance.

"Now, now… It's not nice to be temperamental. You're with a young lady…" Natsume stated with a smirk.

"Why you!" Fire appeared in Natsume's hands once more. Mikan gasped as she grew frantic with what was about to happen next. Narumi was about to work his alice on Natsume to prevent the raging boy when Mikan intercepted him.

"No need for that Narumi-sensei…" Mikan said to her teacher. "It would anger him more…" She explained.

As the auburn-haired girl said this, Natsume put out his fire and looked away from the two… but with an annoyed look still present on his face.

Narumi smiled after a few moments as he heard Mikan's request. "Okie dokie! Well then. Off to bed you two! Mikan, because of the bond you share, you have to share the room with Natsume for the meantime"

"WHAT?!" They both cried at the same time.

"Of course! How do you propose you two will sleep?"

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

"This is stupid… This is definitely VERY stupid" Natsume said highly annoyed as he lay on his bedroom floor. For some unexplainable reasons, Hotaru managed to convince the teachers that Mikan would take the bed, and he would sleep on the floor. She also placed a barrier in between the floor and the bed, seemingly trying to protect her "best friend" from him. It was HIS bedroom for crying out loud! And now here he was, lying on the floor, feeling seriously inferior at the moment.

"Ano… Natsume… Are you still awake?" A voice that was surprisingly soft this time emerged from the darkness. It was Mikan's.

Natsume did not utter any word. He was VERY annoyed with all what was happening. Why does he need to get stuck with this girl? Why?

"Ano… Natsume… I'm sorry you're sleeping on the floor-"

"You're sorry?! This is my room and_ I _sleep on the floor?" He cut the girl angrily. He was so annoyed and mad at the moment.

"Well… Hotaru said that the reason why she let you sleep on the floor was because you didn't do much help with all the errands today…" Mikan whispered in the darkness, a slight hint of guilt in her voice. "I'm sorry…"

"…" Natsume remained silent. He still couldn't bear the fact with everything that was happening.

"Ano… if you like. I can stay on the floor." Now that surprised Natsume. "I'm used to sleeping on something hard… and besides… y-you…" Mikan was blushing with the words coming out of her mouth. She was actually talking to Natsume decently! 

"No"

"Huh?" Mikan looked at the boy lying on the floor. Natsume was avoiding her gaze.

"You can sleep there" He replied simply.

"A-Are you sure?"

"You idiot! How do you suppose I sleep there and you sleep here… There's a barrier in the middle of us right…?" He snapped at the girl, who didn't quite got the picture.

"O-Oh… yeah… I forgot about that…" Mikan said slightly embarrassed.

There was silence.

"Well then… good night…" Mikan bade her good night and turned around to the other side of the bed, leaving Natsume with his own thoughts.

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

There was uncontrollable shifting on the floor; Mikan had awoken from this midnight racket. She peeked over to where the boy was sleeping. And there she saw that Natsume was suffering from something terribly. "N-Natsume!" Mikan cried worriedly as she immediately sat up and tried breaking through the barrier. Natsume was experiencing his nightly pain attacks.

_THUD_

_THUD_

_THUD_

Mikan was slightly bruised from all the bumping through the barrier she was doing. "Natsume! Natsume!" She cried over and over again. Putting all her strength into one of her bumps, she had managed to cross the barrier and fall right on top of the boy.

Natsume's breathing was ragged, and he was sweating a lot. Mikan looked at the boy worriedly and tried thinking of something she could do. Just as the girl decided to call for help, she was brought back to the floor, forgetting that Natsume and she were bound together. "N-Natsume…" She frantically tried to awaken the boy. "Natsume!"

It was several long moments when Natsume calmed down, thus relieving the girl from her previous worries. Deciding that she had to return to bed, she stood up and crossed the broken barrier when a hand had suddenly grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back to the floor. Mikan had landed right beside the boy, who was snuggling close to her, seeking comfort.

It was at that position, that the two fell asleep…

_To be continued…_

**-()-()-()-()-()-**

_OrangeAce: So how was it? Please, please drop by a review and wait for the next chapter! Ja ne!_


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